


Radiance

by treasureflowers



Series: sentrywire | paraheal | blazewind [VALORANT] [4]
Category: VALORANT (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Cypher/Killjoy, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nora as Cypher & Killjoy's daughter, Omen/Sage, Phoenix/Jett, THEY ARE MARRIED ;w;, blazewind, paraheal, sentrywire, this is a long ass fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29173989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treasureflowers/pseuds/treasureflowers
Summary: Aamir will forever and always be grateful for the lights Clarissa brings to his life. [Cypher/Killjoy | sentrywire]
Relationships: Cypher & Nora (VALORANT), Cypher/Killjoy (VALORANT)
Series: sentrywire | paraheal | blazewind [VALORANT] [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066811
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Radiance

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! Another sentrywire fanfiction from me. Pardon my English since it is not my first language.  
> I'm using the agents real names in this fanfiction (some of them are canon, some are made by me).  
> Cypher as a multilingual king who can speak many languages: English, Arabic, French, and German.
> 
> Enjoy!

**VALORANT © Riot Games**

[ Cypher/Killjoy ]

Alternate Universe - Domestic/Mundane

* * *

“Are you ready, _ma princesse_ **[1]**?”

A man with a semi-casual clothing looked at a little girl who sat beside him. The little girl nodded while holding a small pot of mini white orchids. After getting the little girl’s response, he put his beige fedora on and got out of the car. Then, he opened the door to help the little girl get out.

“Does _Baba_ **[2]** look good?” He asked.

“Yes, _Baba_ is always handsome.” The little girl smiled and gave him a thumbs up with her free hand.

He laughed hearing the girl’s remark, then patted her head. After that, he held out her hand and walked inside. The sun didn't shine too bright since it was still February. Aachen in February was cold but a lot of people still went outside to work or just hang around with their loved ones, just like the man and the little girl did.

They went inside the building and were greeted by the receptionist with a smile. Smiling back to the receptionist, they then took the elevator to the third floor. The building was very quiet and they only saw a small number of people there. Since it was empty, their footsteps were echoed throughout the corridor.

"I see … little people," said the girl.

"Yes," answered the man to his little girl, " _Baba_ also sees a little number of people here."

He found a room with the code K-04. "We are here, sweetheart." The man said and opened the door for the little girl.

They came in and walked to a spot near the corner of the room that was full of cabinets. Those cabinets were made from wood and glass. He asked the girl to sit down so he could take out a small card from his wallet and open one of the cabinet doors. After taking off his coat, he reached out his hand to the little girl.

"Do you want to put the flowers inside?"

"Yes, _Baba._ "

The man giggled softly and lifted the little girl so she could put the pot. He didn't put the girl down so that she could take a look of what was inside the cabinet. A white with beige ceramic jar was inside the cabinet. On the right side of the jar, there was a small photo frame with a smiling woman inside and the new small flower pot. Two small robots were lying down on the left side. 

“Hey, Clarissa. I’m back again,” The man, Aamir, looked at the little girl with a smile, “but I’m here together with Nora.”

“Hello, Mama.” Nora spoke with a soft voice. “I want to meet you so I ask papa to come.”

Nora looked at the picture carefully. She noticed that her and her mother were pretty similar. Staring at her dad, she said, “Nora and Mama’s hair are the same.”

“Yes, you have the same hair as Mama.” Aamir caressed her hair gently. “However, Mama’s hair is longer than Nora’s.”

“ _Baba_ pats Mama’s hair too? _Baba_ pats Nora’s hair a lot.”

Aamir didn’t answer as his mind was travelling down into the memories of him and his wife. He remembered undoubtedly how he used to caress Clarissa’s hair when they were going to sleep, then kiss her forehead, and bring her to his embrace. Nora tapped Aamir’s shoulder and it brought him back to the present time.

He smiled. “Yes, _Baba_ did.”

* * *

Aamir would never stop being grateful because God let him meet Clarissa years ago. It was started when he pursued his doctoral degree in one of the universities in Aachen, Germany. He was one of the top students in that university and it made the lecturers trust him as one of the assistant professors. He was paid by the university to take over the class if the professor couldn’t attend.

That was where he met Clarissa.

He was 31 years old and Clarissa was 24 years old. Clarissa was pretty well known in the university because of her academic achievement even before she entered the university. She was excellent in creating and designing robots even when she was still in junior high school back in the USA. In the university, she often became the representative of the university in competitions.

Clarissa was an eccentric person, very analytical, and ambitious about inventing something new. Every time he saw the girl, he laughed at himself silently and thought. _How nice to be young and to have that much energy._

Knocking sound brought him back to reality.

“ _Herr_ **[3]** Aamir?”

Aamir could hear Clarissa’s voice from outside the empty laboratorium (since he was there by himself). He put down the cables in his hand, then walked to the door. Door opened and he saw Clarissa holding a pile of papers.

“Clarissa.”

The girl smiled. “I’m in charge of submitting the assignments so here I am with the drafts you asked last week.”

He nodded, remembered that he was assigned to collect the assignment for Herr Andrew, the real lecturer in Clarissa’s class, who was sick. He took the papers from Clarissa's hand.

"Thank you for bringing these, Clarissa."

She nodded before peeking inside the room. "What are you doing, _Herr_?"

"I'm just trying to develop something."

"Could I see it?" He could see the girl's eyes were sparkling. "I swear I won't disturb you."

Aamir couldn't reject the girl since she looked _that_ happy. _She could probably learn something from this._ He thought.

"Sure. You can come."

Nodding, he walked to the desk and put the papers there. After saying a thank you, Clarissa came in and closed the door. She noticed some cameras and disks on the desk. She grabbed one and examined it.

"Are you into camera, _Herr_?"

"You can say like that. I'm currently developing a security camera," said him, "and also, you can just call me Aamir when we aren't in the class. I'm not an official lecturer after all."

Clarissa giggled. "Sometimes, I forget that you are also a student here."

 _Her laugh sounds pleasing._ He said in his mind. _Wait, what am I thinking?_

She put the camera down and took one of the disks. "What is this small disk?"

"A trapwire for security purposes."

"I just found out that there is another person who is into security techs too and that person is you!" She stated happily.

"Oh, really?"

She nodded. "My friends usually talked more about cleaning robots, factory robots, musician robots, or waiter robots. No one in the class mentions security robots."

"I think I'm into the security field because my uncle was once in the US army." Clarissa smiled softly as she remembered her uncle, Michael, who lived in the USA. "So, seeing another person with the same interest feels amazing."

Aamir smiled. "I also didn't expect someone else had the same interest as mine."

"I know!" Clarissa grinned. "I'm actually developing security robots too in my spare time. You want to check it out?"

Aamir nodded. "My pleasure, Clarissa."

With that, their relationship was developed. They often hung out together after class in the coffee shop to talk about their gadgets or just having a small chit-chat while drinking coffee, since both of them were coffee addicted. Clarissa would come to Aamir's house to see the gadgets he worked on. Aamir would also come to Clarissa's room to monitor the progress of her inventions. Sometimes, Clarissa's roommate, Izzy, would be there to see them working.

"Clarissa?"

Izzy could hear someone knocking on the door. _Oh, it must be Aamir._ She walked and opened the door to see the man with his fedora on.

"Hi, Aamir!"

"Greetings, Izzy." Aamir replied with a smile. "Is Clarissa here? She asked me to come yesterday."

"She is not here at the moment since she is outside to buy snacks. Probably, gonna be back in 2 minutes. You can come in! I'll let her know you're here."

“My thanks.” Aamir came in and put his shoes near the door.

The room was pretty big since it was for two people. Right after entering the door, Aamir could see a room divider in the form of a shelf. The left one is Clarissa’s side and the right one is Izzy’s. Each of the sides had a single bed, a wardrobe, and a desk alongside the chair. The bathroom was on the corner of the left area. Izzy’s side was full of paint cans while Clarissa’s workspace was full of cables and blueprints.

Aamir looked at one of the blueprints on the table. He remembered that was one of the bots Clarissa was working on two weeks ago. She hadn’t given the robot a name, just like what she usually did to her other bots.

“Izzy, _mein freund_ **[4]** , I’m back! Open the door, please. My hands are full.”

Clarissa’s voice could be heard. Izzy was tinkering with her gadgets so Aamir offered to help when she was going to move from her seat.

“Let me help her,” said him.

Door was opened and her raven eyes met Aamir’s dark greyish blue eyes.

“Oh! Aamir. Wait …, why are you opening the door? Where’s Izzy?”

“Inside.” The older man pointed to the girl with his chin. “She is painting her gadgets now.” Then, he stretched out his hand and said, “Give them to me. I’ll carry it inside.”

“Thanks a lot!” The girl dashed towards her side of the room and opened a short folding table that was attached to the wall under the window. “You can put them here. I’ll put them inside the refrigerator.”

Aamir nodded and did what Clarissa told him.

“So, how’s the progress of the bots, hm?” Aamir examined the blueprint again.

“Pretty good. Just need some checkups and we—”

"Nope, nope." Izzy said. "Oh, Aamir, you should know how Clarissa kept whining about her bots these days."

"Izzy!"

The man chuckled, knowing that Clarissa wasn't the type to show her weaknesses and struggles with others. Sometimes, it bothered him since in his eyes, she seemed to have struggles in expressing herself.

"Don't worry, I can offer you my help."

With that, they started to work on her gadgets and Izzy got back to her work. Later, she joined the two of them to solve Clarissa's problem with the gadgets. _Even the prodigy faces problems too._ He thought.

Aamir usually spent around two or three hours to help Clarissa (and Izzy) before going home. Spending time with people wasn't really what he liked to do but for this, he could make an exception. He enjoyed his time with them, especially Clarissa.

Without him realizing, he fell for her.

He just felt comfortable around her. She brought a cheerful yet calming aura around him and he liked it a lot. Her smile was beautiful. The way she thinks never failed to amaze him. They also had the same interest and it made them never run out of conversation topics.

Oh, dear. He would spend _all day_ talking about what he liked from Clarissa.

Thus, he confessed. Accidentally.

It happened in the university laboratorium. As usual, Aamir was guiding Clarissa to do her project until the sun set. Only the two of them were there but the room was noisy. It was filled with voices of the robots and them talking.

“Are you going to decorate the bots?” Aamir put down his new invention, a surveillance camera, on the table and walked to grab a bottle of coffee.

"Actually, I have no idea how to decorate this." Clarissa sighed. "I've never decorated them before."

"Izzy is good at painting. Why don't you ask her?"

Clarissa shook her head fast and spun in her chair. " _Nein, nein_ **[5]**. I once asked her to decorate my gadgets and it turned into disaster.”

She remembered how Izzy ended up putting so much paint in her inventions at the point they became out of order. Clarissa also ended up cleaning their room because it was just full of paint, literally everywhere. That was why she reminded herself not to let Izzy decorate her bots anymore.

Aamir couldn’t help but giggled looking at Clarissa who sulked. She looked adorable in his eyes. “Well, I think you don’t really need to decorate your bots after all.” He put down the bottle and started examining his trapwire while standing. “They are beautiful, cute, and lovable, just like you.”

“That’s— wait.”

It was a dead silence after that.

Aamir realized what he just said and flushed. He stared as his trapwire and opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but no word left his mouth. His mind was wandering around, thinking if she might feel comfortable at the point she hated him and his accidental love confession would ruin their friendship.

_I fucked up._

“Clarissa, I, um ….”

He glanced at her and found something unexpected. Clarissa was sitting sideways so he couldn’t see her face clearly. However, her red ears were noticeable.

“ … you mean it?”

Aamir heard her mumble. “Sorry?”

“Do you … um, mean it? T-The previous things you said … about me.”

Aamir nodded subconsciously even though she wouldn’t see him and said, “I do mean it.”

Turning around, Clarissa stood up and moved towards him. Aamir didn't move even an inch, like he just got stunned. The girl looked down, avoiding his gaze as she stopped walking. All of the sudden, Clarissa laid her head on his shoulder and let out a chuckle before sobbing.

“I-I’m … I’m glad,” murmured her, “that this isn't an unrequited love.”

She looked up to gaze at Aamir’s eyes and smiled. Seeing her smile, he was reminded once again how deep he fell for her. He wanted to protect everything about her. He wasn’t really a touchy person but his body just moved automatically to embrace her gently. Then, it was filled by silence but they didn’t mind at all. The silence embraced them with comfort and warmth. It was just alright.

With her by his side, he was sure that everything would be just fine.

* * *

It took them two years to bring the relationship to something more serious. They tied their love in the sacred bond of marriage. Aamir was 33 years old and Clarissa was 26 years old that time. A week before the ceremony, Aamir and Clarissa were packing her things as she was going to live with Aamir.

They would never forget Izzy's crying face when they came to move Clarissa's things. She looked sad but happy at the same time and it did leave funny but touching memories for both of them.

"Aw, Izzy." Clarissa hugged Izzy tight.

"I'm happy for y-you," Sobbing could be heard pretty loud from Izzy, "but I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'm gonna miss you too." Clarissa smiled even though tears started to puddle.

It seemed like she would never meet them again but in fact, Izzy often visited them after their wedding that was held in a church in Aachen, near the university they graduated. Only Aamir and Clarissa's close ones attended the ceremony. Izzy was there as Clarissa’s bridesmaids alongside Joon-hee, who came from the UK with her boyfriend, Grant. Eriks, Aamir's best friend since they were still kids, and David, the friend he made in his previous company, became his groomsmen.

Aamir was waiting near the altar when the ceremony started. The last time he met Clarissa was yesterday so he was nervous but excited to meet her today. Yingyue, his best friend, was in charge of being the MC for today's event. Her soothing voice filled the hall and it somehow calmed Aamir's nervousness.

Then, the door was opened.

Aamir gazed at the light shining behind the two figures that entered the hall. He held back his tears as he saw his girl, Clarissa, with her guardian, Michael, walked down the aisle. She was wearing a white turtleneck wedding dress with beautiful laces around her neck and arms. Her black hair was tied in a bun and a white transparent veil decorated her hair.

She looked perfect.

When they arrived, Michael's eyes were a bit teary and Clarissa almost cried seeing her guardian, _dad figure_ , holding back his tears like that.

"Take care of her well, Aamir." Michael said as he let Clarissa's hand go.

Aamir nodded. "I will."

The ceremony ended up with Aamir kissing Clarissa on the lips as they officially became husband and wife. He still remembered how plump her lips was and the loud cheering from their beloved friends and family. Clarissa was just like a light in the dark that shone his way, leading him to be the best version of himself. From that day until forever, he swore to protect her and love her until the end.

Well, It looked like their happiness didn't end there.

Two months after their marriage, Aamir once came home late from work. A meeting he had with the other lecturers and his research prevented him from coming home until 10 at night. 

“I’m home.”

Aamir said as he opened the main door after coming home late from work. He realized the room was dim and only a small orange light bulb became the source of light. He put his shoes in the shoe rack and walked silently, thinking his wife was probably asleep, even though it was a bit weird since both of them pulled all-nighters. After putting his bag in his working room, his feet brought him to their room. Clarissa was lying down in their king size bed, facing the left side.

Aamir went to the bathroom, cleaning himself up with nice warm water. Before he went to bed, he noticed something on the nightstand. A small rectangle package with a ribbon and a letter written in a yellow sticky note. He sat down at the edge of the bed and felt his back touch Clarissa’s back. The nightstand lamp helped him to read what was written.

 _I have a gift for you inside the package._ _  
_ _\- Your Little Engineer_

He remembered she usually gave him small bots to help him work in the university or just to become cute decorations. However, what was inside the package made his eyes open wide. Taking that thing from the package, he held a white test pack with two red lines on it.

She was pregnant.

A _life_ was there inside her.

Muffled sobs could be heard and Aamir felt the bed shake and someone hands embraced him from behind.

“Do you like the gift?” Clarissa asked in a whisper.

Wiping his tears, he nodded. “Of course. This is the best gift I’ve ever received in my life.”

Clarissa giggled. “We will be very busy after this for the little one.”

Aamir held her hand and rubbed it gently. “I know and I am ready for it.”

.

He and their friends would never forget all the memories of Clarissa being pregnant for 9 months. She had the weirdest sudden craving of Korean _ramyeon_ at 3 in the morning. Luckily, the nearest convenient store opened 24 hours so he could buy one for her. Clarissa also wanted to see Izzy recorded herself singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Not only that, Yingyue’s husband, Omen, was asked to buy Clarissa a honey pancake and refused to accept the pancake if it wasn’t from Omen.

It made Aamir tired but he enjoyed every single moment with Clarissa. He witnessed how her belly became bigger as the baby grew. He also accompanied her when they went to the hospital to check their baby’s gender and found out it was a girl. Clarissa agreed to stop working until she delivered the baby. At first, Clarissa said that she was bored since she usually worked in their home lab. However, Aamir would just touch her belly and rub it gently to remind her that she needed to take care of and not overworking herself for the sake of the baby and it worked.

At the d-day, Aamir didn’t go to the university and let the students continue their previous project by themselves since he wanted to fully focus to take care of Clarissa. His students knew that Clarissa would give birth today and he did receive a lot of heartwarming messages from his students. It helped him to calm down his nervousness since this was the first time for both him and Clarissa.

He didn’t leave Clarissa’s side, even when she was giving birth to their child. He was inside the room to accompany her. She was covered in sweat as she was pushing the baby.

“You can do it, Cla.” Aamir whispered softly. “I know you are strong.”

He held her hand tight. “Don’t worry, love. I’m here with you.”

After fighting for hours, they finally met the baby girl. Clarissa panted heavily and Aamir wiped her sweat and kissed her forehead. His other hand patted her hair gently.

“A-Aamir ….” She said under her breath.

“Yes, yes. You did it, Cla …. You did a great job. I’m— I’m so happy and proud of you.”

After the nurse cleaned the baby, she brought the little girl into Clarissa’s embrace to do the early initiation of breastfeeding. Aamir could see those who were important to him interacting. Clarissa smiled tiredly at Nora, their daughter. He was reminded of how beautiful the sight in front of him was and he would do anything to protect them.

* * *

Having no baby sitter, both of them worked hard together to take care of little Nora with the help of their close friends. Izzy and Yingyue were very excited to come and meet Nora. Yingyue was really good with children and babies since she was a nurse and had training to take care of newborn babies in the hospital where she worked. Not only those two, Omen and Eriks also came to offer help.

That day, Yingyue came alongside with Omen, Eriks, and Izzy to visit them. A gift was prepared since both Omen and Yingyue didn’t come to the hospital on the d-day because Yingyue was not feeling unwell and Omen needed to take care of her. Izzy was excited to see the baby and Eriks kept reminding her to stay quiet since Nora might be sleeping.

“Oh, you guys are here!” Clarissa exclaimed happily as she saw them in the living room with Aamir. Izzy came down to side hug Clarissa while Eriks smiled and waved his hand.

Yingyue smiled and put down the gift on the table before congratulating them. “Congratulations to the new parents! I’m happy for you.”

Omen nodded in agreement and spoke with his low raspy voice, “May the little one be the light in the darkness for you.”

Both Clarissa and Aamir didn’t surprise with how Omen picked his words as they knew him long enough. They knew that it was just the way he expressed his feelings and they could find Omen was really happy for them. A small thank you was received well by the guests.

“Is Nora sleeping?” Eriks asked.

“She is sleeping now. Do you want to see her?” Aamir stood up, ready to escort them.

Izzy nodded in excitement and whispered, “I’ll speak slowly, I promise!”

The six of them entered the bedroom and saw little Nora was sleeping peacefully on her bed. Izzy cooed as the nine months old baby moved around, finding a more comfortable position to sleep. Omen stayed silent but everyone in the room knew he had a soft spot for cute things like babies or small animals. Omen reached out his index finger and Nora grabbed it.

“Aww.” Yingyue, Izzy, and Clarissa cooed in unison as Omen flushed.

“Cuteness overload, don’t you think?” Izzy poked Yingyue in the arm.

“Indeed.” A soft giggle from Yingyue could be heard.

Aamir, who stood a bit far from them, looked away from his friend when Clarissa came closer to him. She held his arm and leant on his shoulder. Aamir remembered that he wanted to discuss something with his wife but didn’t find the right time to talk about it.

“I want to discuss something with you, Cla.”

“Now?”

Aamir shook his head. “Not now.” He leaned down to kiss Clarissa’s head.

“What do you want to discuss with me? Is it about work?”

“Work is one of them. I want to talk about a lot of things, if you don’t mind.”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I don’t mind. I love talking with you.” She moved a bit and put her hands on his hair, sprucing it. “Your hair is damp. What did you do in the lab?”

He held her hands. “I tested my new gadget. It has something to do with water.”

“Lovey-dovey couple right here.”

Both Aamir and Clarissa flushed as they heard Izzy’s voice since they didn’t really like to show too much affection in public. Their friends were staring at them with a playful smile, even Omen did. When they were talking to each other, sometimes it felt that the world was only theirs and it made them forget other people’s existence.

“Please continue! Don’t mind us.” Izzy grinned.

The teases finally ended after they left. Their friends bid goodbye and promised to stop by again someday. Aamir closed the door and let Clarissa walk first to their bedroom. Their room smelled like a lavender because of the aromatherapy essential oil given by Eriks. She sat down at the edge of their bed, close to Nora’s baby box. Shortly after, Aamir joined her and held her hand.

“Cla.” He began, “I notice that you look down these days. Mind sharing with me?”

“It’s just because of work. I got a new project a month ago.”

“Working and taking care of Nora, don’t you ... feel weary?”

Aamir looked at her with concern in his eyes. He knew that she worked really hard to take care of Nora while working as a freelancer. He was there of course to help her but not all the time since he needed to teach his students in the university.

“Sometimes but I love both Nora and my job, Aamir, you know that,” said her. “I don’t want to quit yet.”

“You need to take care of yourself well, Cla. You remembered saying that your dad had a cardiac arrest, right? I don’t want you to get sick knowing that disease can be inherited to children.”

“Don't worry, Aamir. I won't forget to take a break."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Clarissa cupped his cheeks and pecked his lips. "Besides, I don't want to die young. I have two babies to be taken care of."

"Well, those babies are definitely you and Nora, _meine liebe_ **[6]** ," said Aamir while giggling. "Since both of you are _small_."

"Alright, alright, you television tower." Clarissa frowned and it made him chuckle again.

Aamir stood up then lifted Clarissa from her armpits and it automatically made her cross her legs around his waist. Aamir would only do this whenever they were there by themselves since it would be less awkward for both of them. He enjoyed the moment of intimation and got used to it after years together with Clarissa. One of her hands were on his shoulder as the other brushed his hair back.

"Come here." Aamir whispered.

"Hmph, why should I?" Clarissa made a fake angry expression.

"Because you love me?"

"Meh." She rolled her eyes. "No kiss for you."

"Ouch. You hurt my feelings, dear."

"You are welcome."

"Well, if it's like that, let me just do a _crime_ , then."

Aamir put her down on the bed and trapped her between his arms. The room was filled with silence, a pleasant one, and tick-tock sound from the clock. He leant down and captured her lips with his own. He could taste the sweetness from a strawberry candy she just ate right after escorting their guests. His hand moved to hug and sit her down on his lap.

Clarissa was the one who broke the kiss first after she ran out of breath. A strawberry could be the perfect description of how red her face was.

“What a thief.” Clarissa pouted.

“ _Your_ thief,” He answered with a smile, “and you love this thief, don’t you?”

Clarissa couldn’t answer and just bury her face in the crook of his neck. For almost five minutes they stayed in that position and he knew she fell asleep on his embrace. Laying her body on the bed, he then let go. His hand moved to caress and brush the strands from her face.

“Sleep well, my Little Engineer.”

.

And so she did.

She slept really well and never woke up anymore.

It was at three in the morning, one year and seven months after giving birth to Nora, Aamir suddenly woke up from his slumber because of the thunder sound. Only the thunder and rattle from the tree could be heard. He groaned a bit since he was not in the best shape since he lacked sleep and just had a nightmare too. Rubbing his eyes, he saw Clarissa sleeping peacefully with body facing the nightstand.

_She must be tired._

His fingers touched her face and he felt _coldness_.

_Is the temperature from the air conditioner too low?_

He went to check the air conditioner and the temperature wasn’t that cold. His heart was beating fast and his brain was alerting him that something was wrong; _it had to be something wrong._ He knelt down beside their bed. Anxiety started to build up as he whispered her name.

“Clarissa …, Clarissa?”

No response.

He reached her hand and tried to find a pulse but nothing was there. He put her fingers on her nose but nothing was there. _Nothing_.

His world started to crumble. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t sense anything as his tears fell down. No word came out of his mouth, only sobs and muffled screams. He lifted Clarissa’s body and hugged her while whispering her name under his breath.

“How cruel …. You don’t even say goodbye.”

* * *

“Don’t worry, Mama. Nora is big.” The little girl stated. “Nora can protect _Baba_.”

Aamir giggled and brushed her hair gently. “Nora can protect _Baba_ from bad things?”

“Yes! _Baba_ will not be sad. Only happy with Nora. Mama too in Heaven.”

A smile engraved on his lips and he pulled Nora into his embrace, giving kisses to his only daughter. His eyes fixed onto the smiling Clarissa in front of him.

_‘Our girl has become beautiful, smart, and kind, just like you.’_

He might lose Clarissa physically but he knew she was always here with him and Nora. Clarissa brought Nora, their light, into Aamir’s world. Without Nora, he would have given up a long time ago but he didn’t because Clarissa’s heart lived in Nora’s. He was grateful for Nora and their friends that always gave him continuous support and reason to live.

“Let’s pray for Mama before we go home. You lead the prayer, darling.” Aamir put her down and wore his coat before closing his eyes.

The little girl prayed, “God, please make Mama happy in Heaven. Amen.”

“Thank you, Nora. Let’s go home. Say goodbye to Mama.”

“Bye-bye, Mama! Nora and _Baba_ will come again.” She waved her hand to her mother with a smile.

They left the building with a promise to come back again soon.

 _Thank you for being and bringing lights in my life, Clarissa._ _  
_ _I love you forever and always._

**Author's Note:**

> [1] my princess (France)  
> [2] Dad/Father (Arabic)  
> [3] Mister (German)  
> [4] my friend (German)  
> [5] No, no (German)  
> [6] my love (German)
> 
> Radiance /ˈrādēəns/ (n) light; great happiness, apparent in someone's expression or bearing.  
> Orchids/White Orchids (in funeral/for the dead) means everlasting love for the deceased & 'I miss you'.  
> Funfact: Nora (Arabic: نورا) as a name means light, glow.
> 
> See you! <3


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